The Ties That Bind

by Scyphi

Proximity Alarm

They spent some time filling Ditzy in on everything they had experienced. They started from when they left Equestria yesterday on to when they met up with her here at the Equestrian embassy, leaving out only the details deemed too minor and trivial to mention. Naturally, this included showing her how the bloodline stone responded to both of their touches and of course the photos found in the photo album. In all, it took long enough that by the time they finished, the sun had begun to sink into the horizon outside.

Throughout it all, Ditzy listened carefully and patiently to their lengthy narrative, only interjecting when she needed points clarified or had a question to ask. Gallus noticed she tried to keep a neutral expression throughout it all, but even she couldn’t quite keep her amazement from showing when they reached the most shocking parts. By the end of it all, she was looking rather unsure how she should react, much like how they themselves had been. Nevertheless, it was clear she was also putting all the pieces into the bigger picture with a calculative precision, as per her job.

“…and you think Gruff is somehow connected with all of this?” she asked as the recap wrapped up, flipping through the photo album.

“He’s at least knows about it,” Gallus grumbled, his gaze having been staring down at the table for the past several minutes.

“Assuming we can even find him,” Spike added in. “The fact he happened to be out of town almost the same time this all started is admittedly a hay of a coincidence.”

“It’s even more complicated than you think,” Ditzy said before clarifying further, “When we learned you two had likely landed in the Griffon Kingdom, one of the first things I did when I arrived was to seek out Gruff myself. I figured that, given he’s the closest Gallus has to a legal guardian, you might turn to him for help and shelter.”

Gallus softly huffed at that—he actually hadn’t once considered even going to Gruff until learning the old-timer knew more than he’d ever said.

“Obviously though, he wasn’t at his home when I knocked any more than for you two,” Ditzy continued, idly taking in the album’s photos as she continued flipping through them. “At the time, I’d assumed much as you two were told—that he’d been called away to the Lord’s Manor on business. And I, too, thought the timing suspect, but I wanted more evidence before jumping to any conclusions. Which was why, while I was meeting with Lord Gestal, I asked him if he could confirm Gruff’s whereabouts.” She glanced up at the other two. “But he seemed surprised Gruff had left town at all, claiming that, as far as he knew, Gruff hadn’t been called out to the Lord’s Manor at all in nearly a month. Granted, Gestal admitted he hadn’t been to the manor in a couple of days himself, so it’s possible Gruff is indeed there and Gestal just hadn’t heard or been told so. But if that’s not the case…”

“…then either Gestal’s lying, so to cover for Gruff…” Gallus concluded without looking up.

“…or Gruff lied from the start, so to cover for himself,” Spike deduced, awed by this new layer to the mystery.

Ditzy nodded and turned her attention back to the photo album. “Of the two, I’m inclined to think the latter, because Gestal’s reaction felt too genuine. But if that’s the case then Gruff could be anywhere, making it all the harder to find him.” She heaved a sigh. “My point to all this being, we might be better off trying to find our answers elsewhere for now, at least until we know more.” She shook her head, amazed while gazing down at the photos in the album before her. “Besides, I think I need more time to try and process all of this first.”

“It’s…all a bit much to take in, isn’t it?” Spike asked, sympathizing.

“Well…yeah, except I can’t really deny any of it as possible, because that does look like you in these photos, Gallus,” Ditzy concluded slowly, pausing to take in the relevant photos in the album. She flipped ahead to where the photos of the dragon egg started appearing. “And given all the evidence, it does seem likely this egg would be yours, Spike.”

“So do you think this is all really…for real…then?” Spike carefully asked with nervousness.

Ditzy’s hesitation was quite visible. “Once we’re back in Canterlot, we can do some tests to be absolutely certain,” she attempted to hedge, but her gaze wandered over the table to where the bloodline stone sat nearby. “…though I know how those are supposed to work,” she continued, pointing a hoof at it, “so I suppose that alone probably ought to be enough.”

“To say nothing of the fact that Gene Type had probably already done those same tests before making his move,” Gallus suddenly added, continuing to gaze down at the table.

Ditzy’s gaze turned to him. “Do you think it’s true, then?” she asked him, her voice gentle but prodding.

Unwilling to commit an answer but unable to look her in the eye, Gallus averted her gaze further by turning his head away and not answering. Spike, tellingly, didn’t answer either when her gaze went his way, the dragon likewise avoiding eye contact.

Ditzy took a deep inhale before shutting the album and sliding it to one side. “Seriously, how are you two holding up?” she asked again with genuine concern. “I get how this must be a lot to take in, particularly all at once like this.”

A long pause followed as neither Gallus or Spike wanted to be the first to respond. Gallus in fact deeply preferred not to answer at all if it could be helped, but a niggling and annoying voice in the back of his head reminded him that this was an unrealistic want.

Finally, Spike was the one to reply. “Honestly, I don’t know how to respond,” he admitted in a rush, like the words were just popping out of him like the cork off a bottle. “This is totally new territory for me. I…I don’t even know where to begin, let alone what the right thing to say or do should be.” He glanced over at Gallus as if expecting him to pipe in with something at this point, but Gallus stubbornly remained silent, unwilling to open up. “It’s…basically what Gallus had said to me sometime before,” he continued instead. “When we left Equestria, this wasn’t at all what we were expecting to uncover.”

“Even when considering you left in hopes of learning something about your families anyway,” Ditzy said, before snorting to herself. “Because obviously you never once stopped to consider you two are that family.” She sighed, rubbing one hoof over a temple. “I wish I could claim to know just what to say too…but for me it’s also untrodden ground.” She then perked up. “Still, I suppose the best thing you can do for now is count your blessings.”

This finally roused Gallus out of his silence, raising a questioning brow at the pegasus. “How so?”

“Well…despite everything, you’re both alive and in good health,” Ditzy reasoned.

“That is true,” Spike admitted with a small grin.

“Plus, you’ve gotten to someplace reasonably safe and have plans to get someplace even safer here soon,” Ditzy continued. She then made a cheesy grin. “And hey! You could’ve found out about this with somecreature way worse than either of you, right?”

That got both Gallus and Spike to chuckle, giving each other appreciative glances. “Yeah, I suppose that’s true,” Gallus admitted. He stopped short of just outright saying it, but he figured he could’ve done much worse for a probable little brother than Spike.

“Beyond that, the only good advice I can give you for now is…work to adapt,” Ditzy continued. “I know finding all this out, especially the way you have, is hard…probably harder than I can truly appreciate…but to be honest, it was probably always going to be. So now that you’re past the first and hardest of these hurdles…the best thing to do now is prepare yourself the best you can for the hurdles still to come.”

Spike and Gallus went quiet, processing that advice for a moment.

“…I suppose we could be considering what the heck we’re going to say to Twilight when we meet her next,” Spike reasoned with a small grin.

“Yeah, how do you think she’ll react?” Gallus asked, considering that possibility. Up to now he’d been thinking more about what Twilight would do after she had been filled in and less about what was needed to get her up to speed first.

Spike’s grin grew bigger and took on a more teasing edge. “Oh, she’ll totally go Twily-nanas on us,” he admitted.

“Is that where she freaks out to a totally absurd degree and stops using her brain?” Gallus asked, adopting a teasing grin of his own.

“Yup,” Spike confirmed while Ditzy, fully familiar with what they were talking about, stifled a giggle. “In fact, now that I’m thinking about it, maybe it was for the better we didn’t have the chance to tell her via the communication beetle, because this way we can actually be there to hold her back when she flips out, since we all know she will.”

This got all three of them to laugh a little, envisioning it in their heads.

“Oh, what a heck of a situation we’re in, right?” Gallus then proceeded to quip, the laughter helping to unwind the tension. “We get told some stallion has figured out who our long lost families are and get shipped halfway across the ocean just to find out what he’s learned, only to have him try and kill us, get trapped on runaway airship that we then crash, find evidence suggesting we’re apparently, secretly, hybrids and potential siblings, nearly get blown up by a patrol ship and hunted across the countryside, smuggle ourselves into Griffonstone in disguise before finally getting put into protective custody of an undercover Night Guard I had previously thought was just the local mailmare.” Despite everything, he laughed harder. “I mean, when you say it all out loud, it really does sound crazy.”

“Hey, in my defense,” Ditzy interjected, playing along, “it was my job to do that, and when you consider that meant I spent a lot of my days having fun playing the klutzy mailmare…”

Gallus and Spike both laughed. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way,” Spike admitted.

“Though I’m still struggling to see you as anything but that,” Gallus admitted, taking the chance to take in the pegasus. The personas couldn’t be more different after all, as Ditzy even carried herself differently when acting as the Night Guard she really was. The eyepatch, which she currently had flipped up again, didn’t help either. He winced to himself though, aware of how what he was saying probably sounded. “I’m sorry, but…of all the ponies I would’ve guessed might be undercover guards, you were probably the very last.”

“Good!” Ditzy unexpectedly praised, “That just means it’s working exactly as intended. The whole point is that nobody suspects I’m a combat-trained Night Guard, because then not only would the common creature underestimate me, so would potential enemies.” She then heaved a good-natured sigh. “But if it helps, Gallus, I’m sorry you had to learn about it like this. This isn’t at all how I would’ve wanted you to.”

“Assuming I ever found out at all,” Gallus pointedly added. He wasn’t a fool, after all.

And to Ditzy’s credit, she didn’t exactly deny it. “I hope it’s enough to know that I only keep it secret because it’s required,” she stressed. “And it’s only required because if the Night Guard didn’t keep these matters secret, it’d needlessly risk harm to innocent creatures. This sucks more than it gets credit for, yes, but…it’s a job somebody’s gotta do.” Ditzy then waved that matter aside. “But we’ve got better things to talk about than that can of worms.”

Spike’s stomach chose that moment to rumble audibly. “I suppose we could talk about whether or not there’s anything to eat instead,” he suggested sheepishly while placing a paw over his belly, as if attempting to silence it.

“Well, since the embassy’s in-between ambassadors, there’s not much in the way of food supplies currently,” Ditzy admitted apologetically. “Otherwise, I’d see if I could whip up a batch of muffins because I daresay you two could use some by now.” Nevertheless, she rose from her seat. “But I did bring some military rations. It’s not the most glamorous of foods, but it’s still something.”

She went to pull out the Night Guard-issued box from the stacks of others scattered about. She was just in the process of bringing it back to the table to open when a soft beeping sound began echoing into the room.

“What’s that?” Gallus asked, perking an ear at the noise.

“Proximity alarm,” Ditzy muttered, leaving the box of rations to once again root through her equipment on the table. She eventually pulled out a small device powered by a magic gem and studied its indicators while continuing to explain. “For security reasons, the embassy is encircled by a concealed network of magic detectors that signal whenever things like airships fly into the area.”

Spike perked up at this. “So you’re saying there’s an airship flying our way?”

“According to this, it looks like it,” Ditzy remarked hesitantly.

Gallus also perked up. “That the airship the Night Guard’s supposed to be sending for us?” he guessed.

But Ditzy was frowning. “But it’s too soon. They couldn’t have gotten an airship all the way out here this quickly, not unless they already happened to have one near the Griffon Kingdom.” Her frown deepened. “But if they did, then why didn’t anypony tell me that?”

Gallus started to frown himself. “So…what happens if it isn’t the Night Guard airship?”

Spike tensed. “Could…could they maybe just be passing by?” he asked. “Does that happen?”

Ditzy made an amused snort. “All the time, actually, why do you think the proximity alert was installed in the first place?” But this still didn’t seem to reassure her as she continued studying the beeping device, watching as the encroaching airship didn’t deviate any from its course. Then, abruptly, she came to a decision. “All right, we’re going to get eyes on this craft,” she concluded, flipping her eyepatch back over its relevant eye. She pointed at Spike and Gallus as she pocketed the proximity alert, collected her crossbow, and dragged an unopened case sitting on the table closer to herself. “You two stay with me for now. I want you in my sight at all times, understand?”

Both Spike and Gallus silently nodded and moved to stay by her side while she moved the crate onto her back to carry. It looked heavy, but despite Gallus offering to assist, Ditzy shrugged off the offer and hefted it all herself. That done, she then led the way out of the dining room and on deeper into the embassy, eventually leading them into the building’s front entry. Here Gallus had to pause for a split second so to admire the embassy’s very impressively carved front doors, though he figured the closed double doors were heavy and probably took some heft to open.

Ditzy didn’t lead them to the front doors though but rather to the left and through a more inconspicuous side door next to the entry’s large cast iron fireplace. This opened into an attached corridor that Gallus swiftly realized connected to the embassy’s tower. Ditzy, focused on the task at hand, hadn’t elaborated much on what she planned to do, but by this point Gallus figured she planned to try and identify the approaching airship from there.

Said tower was fairly straightforward in structure, with most of its middle being composed of a central staircase leading to its top, which the three swiftly proceeded to climb. At the top it opened into a single circular room with windows running along nearly all of its outer edge, through which the light of the setting sun streamed in with enough intensity that the room didn’t need any additional lighting. This room seemed to be for the explicit purpose of monitoring security at the embassy and as such was already equipped with a lot of the gear needed for exactly that. This included a mounted telescope, a shelf of smaller and more portable collapsible spyglasses, another of the proximity alert devices like what Ditzy carried, and even a radio set-up a lot like the one Gallus remembered Gene Type had on his airship.

For the moment though, Ditzy ignored all of it, quickly shrugging the crate off her back and onto the floor then moving to the western side of the tower. It took only a moment of scanning the skies before she pointed with her hoof. “There it is,” she remarked to Gallus and Spike still obediently staying by her side.

Sure enough, the airship was just visible as a dark speck gradually growing bigger as it leisurely made its way closer to the embassy. With the sun behind it casting it in shadow, it was fairly easy to see overall, but hard to make out much in the way of its finer details.

“That’s a teeny looking airship,” Gallus noted, observing how small it was. “It can’t be much more than a flying cockpit, really.”

“I suppose that could mean it’s just a privately owned airship,” Spike reasoned not illogically.

Ditzy hummed to herself, the idea relaxing her slightly. “Could be,” she concurred and moved over to the tower’s radio, switching it on. “Unidentified approaching airship,” she broadcasted into the receiver, “you have entered the airspace of the Equestrian embassy without authorization. Please identify yourself and state your intentions immediately.”

Disconcertingly, no response was broadcasted back. Instead all they heard was the gentle hiss of background static.

Undeterred though, Ditzy continued trying to raise the airship. While she repeated her message to them though, Gallus opted to scoop up one of the spyglasses and put it to his eye, trying to see what else he could make out of the craft. “Well, it’s definitely griffon-built,” he noted after a moment, “but with the sun behind it, I can’t really make out much else beyond that.”

“So it could just be a private ship?” Spike asked him, clearly hoping not to repeat their encounter with the Reliant from the previous night.

“Maybe,” Gallus said. He watched it draw ever closer through his spyglass. If he waited for it to get closer still, he could probably make out more then. But if the airship meant them harm, it’d probably be too late by that point. “But admittedly, I’m not confident. Something about all of this isn’t adding up.” His gaze then fell upon the mounted telescope and concluded it probably had the better magnification. “Lemme see if I can make out anything else with this.”

“I repeat,” Ditzy continued broadcasting into the radio while he did this, “Unidentified airship, you are ordered to cease your approach and identify yourself. You are currently in violation of restricted airspace and failure to cooperate could result in security protocols engaging against you.”

Gallus winced to himself at how quickly this seemed to be escalating, pulling off the lens covers on the telescope and proceeding to find the airship with it. By now it had gotten close enough to allow Gallus to make out a few finer details about its shape. But he still had the same problem as before: the sunset casting it in shadow was hiding the truly important details that would’ve easily identified it. Gallus was starting to suspect this may have been done deliberately, not helping ease suspicions about it. He decided to try and see if he could point the telescope at the craft’s cockpit and make out anything within.

Meanwhile, Ditzy was clearly through playing around. “Unidentified airship, respond or retreat now or you will be fired upon.” This got Spike’s head to whip around in alarm, but she waved a hoof at him to keep him silent while waiting for any response. Yet as before, there was absolutely nothing but static. Finally, thumping her hoof in frustration, Ditzy left the radio and returned to the crate she’d brought up here. “Well, I warned them.”

Spike’s eyes grew wide. “You’re not going to try and shoot them, are you?”

“No, I’m going to fire a warning shot past their bow, prove that I’m serious,” Ditzy explained as she opened up the crate, revealing a much larger version of her crossbow folded up inside, enough to fire off projectiles bearing a bit more oomph. “Hopefully that’ll get them to take the hint and retreat.”

“…and if they don’t?” Spike warily asked, watching her unfold the weapon that was about half as long as she was.

“Then like I said, I warned them,” Ditzy reiterated darkly while she worked. She didn’t sound particularly pleased she’d been forced into this though.

Gallus, listening to all of this as he kept working the telescope, couldn’t blame her. So when he realized the sunlight shining behind the airship helped to outline shapes within its cockpit, he didn’t hesitate to speak up. “Ditzy, I can just make out creatures inside that airship,” he reported to her as she balanced the massive crossbow on the sill nearby, opening the window she’d chosen to fire through. “By my count, there appear to be about three, all of them griffons—I can clearly make out the outlines of their beaks.”

“That definitely rules out it being a Night Guard craft then,” Ditzy grunted in growing frustration as she loaded up the crossbow with what looked like a small rocket.

She took a brief second to take aim before firing. The little rocket leapt off her weapon with great speed, but it’d barely traveled a couple of feet before its tail lit up like the rocket it was, propelling it even faster towards its target. It reached the airship within moments, but as Ditzy had promised, the rocket deliberately shot close but entirely past it before finally detonating not far behind it in a magic-fueled explosion. The shockwave visibly shook the airship as it swept over it, but worryingly, the airship’s course did not waver and continued looming ever closer to the embassy.

Far more concerning though was that the light from the detonating rocket managed to, for a split second, light one side of the craft’s cockpit which Gallus was still watching through the telescope. In that split second, the shadows covering the airship were stripped away and Gallus caught sight of the crew’s faces. He didn’t recognize any of them but he didn’t need to—the small glints of light reflecting off their clothing told him enough.

“Ditzy, the crew is all in uniform!” he declared in alarm as he whipped his head around to look at her, feeling his stomach sink at the implications. “They’re military!”

Ditzy understood instantly and uncharacteristically swore. “Did you see if any of them were a commodore?” she demanded hurriedly. “Wearing a rank of a star and a band underneath?”

Gallus only had the briefest of glimpses and even then only from afar, but he nevertheless felt certain of it. “I think so!”

Ditzy slammed her hoof on the window sill. “Commodore Garrett,” she hissed darkly, before turning away, full of purpose. “You two get back into the embassy and find cover!” she ordered as she went back to the crate and grabbed another rocket to fire.

“But you told us to stay in your—!” Spike started to object as Gallus spun away from the telescope and grabbed the dragon’s shoulder, leading him to the exit.

“You two are the targets, not me!” Ditzy summarized bluntly. “And they’re nearly in firing range, so get back down into the embassy where you’ll have more cover NOW!”

Her intensity startled Spike into obeying, and he and Gallus quickly scrambled out of the room, seeing Ditzy hurrying to reload her rocket crossbow before she vanished from their view. They shortly got confirmation that the airship was trying to finish what the Reliant could not when, once they were about halfway down the tower stairs, return fire was heard striking the top of the tower, followed by the sound falling debris and a cloud of dust rushing back down the stairs behind them.

“Ditzy!” Spike cried in alarm and started to turn back, but Gallus grabbed him and kept him moving forward. As much as he hated admitting it, Ditzy was right—they were the real targets, and as such, it was more important they try to get to safety while they still could.

Besides, they soon saw Ditzy wasn’t down and out yet as, while racing down the hallway connecting the tower with the rest of the embassy, they passed its sole window in time to see a second rocket be fired from the damaged top of the tower, and this time it wasn’t a warning shot. The airship attempted to turn away from it, but it was too slow and only left its backend exposed in time for the rocket to slam into its engines, critically exploding on impact. Half of the airship was on fire in an instant. It continued to drift off course from the impact for only a moment before there was an audible pop from its lifting envelope bursting and the whole airship abruptly dropped like a stone, slamming into the embassy grounds nose first with a crunch that completely flattened what remained.

Gallus and Spike stopped to whoop and cheer for this successful victory before Gallus tugged Spike to keep moving. “Just in case there’re survivors,” he explained as he threw open the door leading back into the entry hall, “we better keep doing as Ditzy ordered until—” he skidded to a halt upon seeing the long ray of sunlight cast on the floor when there hadn’t been before. Turning revealed that the front doors he’d admired earlier and had most definitely been closed were now left wide open. “Wait, who—?”

He started to look the other way for an explanation when the other griffon was suddenly upon him, grabbing him tightly by the throat with his talons. Letting out a squawk of surprise, Gallus desperately grabbed at the intruding paw, trying to rip it off his neck, but the adult attacker was bigger and stronger than he was and didn’t have much trouble keeping his grip. It didn’t help that the all-too valuable air had been squeezed out of Gallus’s throat, his lungs already reacting negatively to the sudden cut-off of oxygen.

“Hey!” Spike cried in nearly the same instant and threw himself at their attacker, slashing his claws at the griffon’s hindquarters. The griffon flinched and lashed out with a swift kick of his back leg, catching Spike in the middle. This knocked the little dragon backwards, colliding headfirst with the nearby cast iron stove with a clang before crumpling to the floor, out cold.

“S-Spike!” Gallus tried to choke out, but didn’t get any further as the other griffon gave his throat a painful squeeze and swung the hallway door they’d entered through closed.

That done and Spike out of commission for the moment, he put his full attention on Gallus, turning around so his back was to the open front doors and putting Gallus fully into the sunset’s light. Gallus was meanwhile still struggling to do something to reduce the choking squeeze on his throat. But the griffon was lifting him up high enough that Gallus’s hindlegs had to strain on their tippy-toes so to still grip the floor, something Gallus desperately needed or else the only thing keeping him up was the griffon’s grip on his throat and that would only choke him faster. Already his lungs were burning from the decreased oxygen and his extremities tingly and weakening from the loss of air. Still, he was able to make small gasps of air, just enough to keep him alert and conscious, as the attacking griffon wasn’t quite squeezing hard enough to choke him fully…yet.

Unable to remove the talons from his throat though, Gallus took the chance to take in his attacker. He was a male griffon old enough to start showing some grey and a few wrinkles, but clearly he was still quite physically fit. This was likely due to his career, as he wore the distinct officer’s uniform of the griffon military, though the uniform was somewhat dirtied and scorched, particularly along one side. Gallus deduced that he must’ve been on the airship and jumped out just before Ditzy shot it down, narrowly escaping the explosion that took it out. He must’ve then forced his way into the embassy in time to catch Gallus and Spike. If his life wasn’t currently on the line, Gallus would kick himself for walking right into the trap.

But Gallus also noticed the griffon’s rank, portrayed as a golden star above a matching band, and suddenly deduced his attacker’s identity. “Commodore…Garrett…I presume,” he managed to spit out at him in-between gasps for air.

Garrett chuckled darkly. “Very good,” he praised degradingly, eying Gallus like he was some rabid dog to put down. “I must admit, you two have both proven far more capable than anticipated. It’s been a lot of trouble chasing you down again after the good doctor Gene Type predictably failed with his supposed gentlestallion’s approach to killing you two.” He tightened his grip on Gallus’s throat and the little air he’d still been able to gulp down vanished. “But I always get my prey in the end.”

“…why?” Gallus managed to choke out, his desperation to pry himself free growing now that he just about couldn’t breathe at all, but his limbs were weakening too quickly to find any purchase.

“You’re a hybrid,” Garrett replied in a hiss, “A corruption, an abomination—the fact you were allowed to live even this long is an affront to nature. And the precedent your very existence sets is dangerous to all, considering the sort of monsters hybridizing leads to. So no more—I will finish you and the other one…” he motioned to Spike’s limp body on the floor, “…and that’ll be the end of it, short and simple.” He reached to his belt and pulled out a dagger. “Don’t worry. I intend to make this quick.”

“…no…” Gallus gurgled in Garrett’s grip, but there was nothing else he could do. His brain was starting to feel fuzzy from the lack of air, he basically had no strength left to give in any of his limbs, and darkness was starting to fade in around the corners of his vision. He was already on the verge of unconsciousness, helpless to do anything to stop Garrett’s impending attack as he raised the dagger over his head, ready for the lethal stab.

But then Garrett abruptly jerked, flinging his head backwards. His eyes bulged in surprise, his mouth opening but no sound came out except for a faint gagging sound. His trembling hold on the dagger loosened until it fell harmlessly to the floor with a clatter. Suddenly he was struggling to stay upright, wavering on his haunches. Without warning, his grip released and Gallus was allowed to thump to the floor gasping, greedily gulping some much needed air down his aching throat. He took a moment to focus on steadying his breathing again, his body tingling as oxygen flowed through it once more, before turning his attention back on Garrett.

He did so in time for Garrett to tip over and fall to the floor, landing on his side with a gurgle. A previously unseen arrow was protruding from the back of his neck and blood already pooling on the floor around him. Gallus scrambled back from the rapidly growing puddle, staring in horror as Garrett’s eyes swiftly turned glassy and lifeless, before finally looking upward in the direction the arrow must’ve been fired from.

There, standing in the open embassy doorway, another arrow already placed on his longbow but not yet drawn back to fire, was Gruff, eyeing Gallus with his usual ill-tempered expression.

“Do I have to do everything for you, boy?” he grouched out loud.

Author's Note:

So you're just going to have to believe me when I say I didn't actually plan for this cliffhanger to go up on a Monday. I swear that the only chapter I deliberately planned that for was "Lineage," so that this chapter also landed on Monday really is just a coincidence...as will any other cliffhangers that may come up later in the story.

Comments

[SpikeSmolder fan]

The lenghts these guys are gunning for Gallus/Spike here is uncanny, and all for their purist beliefs from what I got out of that loser Garrett's mouth sickens me!

At the very least he got put down like the scum he was by Gruff, which was quite the surprise! Now I hope we get some more concrete answers out of him about this whole mess!

[Frazikar]

Ahhh, so it looks like Gruff did spirit them away ... .